Three of South Africa’s major banks have cut jobs over the past five financial years, with one cutting more than 5,000 staff since 2019.
As banking shifts from traditional in-store transactions to digital channels, banks are reducing their footprints and the number of staff on the ground.
However, they are increasingly hunting for Information Technology and data and analytics skills.
MyBroadband compared employee numbers from Absa, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank from 2018/19 to 2022/23 from their respective annual results.
While some banks have already released annual results for the 2023/24 financial year, others have yet to do so, so we didn’t include them.
Nedbank made the biggest staff cuts over the period. Its headcount in South Africa has reduced by 5,400 employees, or 17.5%, from 30,877 in 2018/19 to 25,477 in 2022/23.
Over the same period, Absa’s staff count dropped from 28,296 to 27,085, representing a 4.3% reduction.
Standard Bank cut nearly 600 employees over the period, while FNB was the only bank to increase its headcount over the period. Its employee base grew from 38,328 in 2018/19 to 38,800 in 2022/23.
Nedbank, the bank with the highest headcount reduction over the five years, recently told MyBroadband that it had seen a marked increase in customers using its digital channels.
Digital servicing volumes increased by nearly 20%, while use of its online channels grew by 9% in the last year.
“We have seen a corresponding decrease in our in-branch volumes over the same period,” said Nedbank.
Standard Bank has seen a similar trend. It revealed that in-branch transactions declined by 13% to around 2.5 million in the first half of the current financial year, while online transactions increased by 30%.
“Online transactions increased by 30% to 1.5 billion transactions with Standard Bank clients performing an average of 10,400 digital transactions per month, compared to just 0.017 transactions in branches,” it said.
It has also significantly reduced branch square meterage.
Standard Bank South Africa’s head of personal and private banking, Kabelo Makeke, said the banking is adjusting to changing customer habits.
“By adapting our branch network and enhancing our digital capabilities, we are ensuring that we remain responsive to our customers,” he said.
Capitec’s employee base grew significantly between 2018/19 and 2022/23, with the bank adding nearly 1,700 staff members in five years.
The table below shows Absa, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank staff numbers from 2019 to 2023.
| Bank | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nedbank | 30,877 | 29,213 | 26,861 | 25,924 | 25,477 | -5,400 |
| Absa | 28,296 | 27,160 | 25,908 | 25,719 | 27,085 | -1,211 |
| Standard Bank | 29,578 | 29,022 | 28,356 | 28,206 | 29,002 | -576 |
| FNB | 38,328 | 40,174 | 37,043 | 37,130 | 38,800 | 472 |
| Capitec | 13,774 | 14,590 | 14,672 | 14,758 | 15,451 | 1,677 |
AI a double-edged sword
A recent Citigroup report revealed that 54% of jobs in the banking sector are at high risk of automation through Artificial Intelligence (AI).
It said the incorporation of AI-powered agents, bots, and other systems will significantly change market share, employment, and client experience.
“In the medium term, by 2030 or before, AI-powered bots will play an increasing role in banking and finance. This will challenge many existing ways of doing business,” it said.
However, World Wide Worx CEO Arthur Golstuck said this should be expected, adding that the shift will lead to increased demand for software development and AI development skills in the banking sector.
These skills will be required to enable and maintain automation in banking operations.
“The big demand of the coming years is going to be in software development, AI development, and app development,” said Goldstuck.
He acknowledged that this poses a big threat to traditional banking jobs.
“You can’t move someone who’s only trained to be a call centre agent or a teller into suddenly developing software,” he said.
“They have to come up with new kinds of jobs, or they have to reskill in different ways to adapt those peoples’ roles.”
Goldstuck highlighted the rapid increase in hiring in the US’s software development segment.
“Today in the United States alone, more than two million people are employed in that segment. We’re going to see that in AI as well,” he said.
